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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French phrase of the day: Ne pas vendre la peau de l’ours

Even if you are not a professional bear-hunter, you may still need to talk about selling bearskins in France, metaphorically, of course.

Published: 12 April 2021 13:27 CEST
French phrase of the day: Ne pas vendre la peau de l'ours
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Why do I need to know ne pas vendre la peau de l’ours?

Because it’s one of those many French animal expressions that show you’re really mastering the language.

READ ALSO: 15 everyday French expressions inspired by animals

What does it mean?

Ne pas vendre la peau de l’ours translates as ‘not to sell the bearskin’, which sounds like something you wouldn’t need to worry about unless you are a bear hunter.

However it’s really a figurative expression meant to provide useful advice for everyone – no bears needed.

The full proverb goes: il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué, which means ‘you mustn’t sell the bearskin before having killed the bear’.

As you probably have understood, it’s caution against acting prematurely, or giving promises you might not be able keep. 

The idea is that presuming something will happen before it has happened is a bad idea. Don’t throw a victory party before you have actually won, the warning goes.

The English equivalent is ‘don’t count your chickens before they have hatched’.

Use it like this

Allez les gars, le match n’est pas encore terminé ! Ne vendez pas la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué. – Come on guys, the game isn’t over yet! Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched.

Je pense qu’on s’est bien entendus, mais enfin je ne veux pas vendre la peau de l’ours trop tôt.. Je ne sais pas encore si elle voudra me revoir. – I think we got along well, but hey, I don’t want to count my chickens too soon. I don’t know yet if she wants to see me again.

Cette réforme ne passera pas. Le gouvernement a vendu la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué, et ils en payeront le prix lors de la prochaine élection. – This reform won’t pass. The government celebrated too soon, and they will pay the price in the next election.

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For members

FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

8 favourite French Words of the Day

This month’s countdown of our favourite French words and phrases features one that sounds like an 80s jangly pop star, another that hardly makes any sense at first glance, and an apparent tax on rabbits that isn't…

Published: 3 May 2024 17:23 CEST
8 favourite French Words of the Day

Every weekday The Local publishes a French word or phrase of the day. We try to focus on colloquialisms, slang, sayings (and a bit of swearing) – you know, the type of French you won’t learn in the classroom, but will hear all the time in the street.

This daily habit means we have a very extensive back catalogue – find it here – and we’ve picked out eight of our recent favourites.

Taxe lapin

The literal translation of une taxe lapin – oon-tax la-pahn – is exactly what you would expect – ‘rabbit tax’.

However, this is not a tax on rabbits, or even on rabbit owners. It is in fact a ‘no-show fee’ or charge levied on people who make appointments and don’t turn up.

Fortunately, we showed up with an explanation, here.

Banco

Banco – bain-koh – is essentially the French word for “bingo!”. It might be colloquial, but politicians have been known to use it when indicating that something someone else has said is correct. 

There’s more, right here.

Radin

Radin – rah-dahn – is a  less-than complimentary French term for a penny-pincher, someone who is or ‘miserly’ with their money. 

We, however, are not in the least stingy with our definition.

Crevard

Speaking of words that definitely aren’t complimentary… Crevard – creh-varr – is a colloquial term that can be used to describe someone who looks ill or exhausted. It’s roughly equivalent to telling someone that they ‘look like death warmed up’.

Find out more, here.

À peine

À peine – ah pen – means ‘with or to pain’ or ‘with or to effort’, and therefore makes no sense in English. But in French conversation, it acts as an adverb meaning ‘hardly’, ‘barely’ or ‘scarcely’.

We make sense of it all, here. 

T’as dead ça

T’as dead ça – tah dead sah – combines the French verb avoir (to have) with the English word ‘dead’. And it’s a good thing, apparently. Because it refers to ‘killing it’ in the positive sense. If you tell someone t’as dead ça, it’s congratulatory, like ‘great job, you killed it!’

Simple comme bonjour

Simple comme bonjour – sahm-pluh com bohn-jor – translates as ‘simple as hello’.

It describes something that is very easy or quick, the French equivalent to ‘easy as ABC’, or ‘a piece of cake’. 

Our explainer is just as straightforward, too. 

J’en ai marre

J’en ai marre – roughly pronounced Johnny Marr – means ‘I’m fed up’.

We discuss this charming phrase in more depth here.

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